Differences between African Americans and Whites in reactions to affirmative action programs in hiring, promotion, training, and layoffs

This study examines the reactions of African Americans and Whites to affirmative action programs (AAPs) applied to 4 human resource activities: hiring, promotion, training, and layoffs. The results of a scenario-based experimental study conducted on a large sample (N > 800) of advanced undergraduate and MBA business school participants generally supported the hypothesis that human resource activity elicited systematic differences in reaction to AAPs between African Americans and Whites. The authors also replicated previous research on the effect of AAP strength and prior discrimination by the organization on reactions to AAPs. Results indicated that AAP strength levels moderated racial differences in reaction to AAPs, while the moderating role of prior discrimination by the organization was not supported. Implications for future research are discussed.     

What's in a Name?

This paper is about the mode of being of names. The paper begins by explaining why the joke is on commentators who see Lewis Carroll's White Knight as applying the use/mention distinction. Then it argues that the real problem with the distinction is that the idea that names are used to mention what they name depends on mistakenly conceiving of language as existing autonomously; and that philosophers have this conception because they fail to appreciate what they are doing when they philosophise about language. This failure also explains why philosophers mistakenly think of any manifestation of a name as a (physical) token.     

Contracting From Epistemic Hell is Routine

I respond to Erik Olsson's critique of my account of contraction frominconsistent belief states, by admitting that such contraction cannot be rationalized as adeliberate decision problem. It can, however, be rationalized as a routine designed prior toinadvertent expansion into inconsistency when the deliberating agent embraces a consistent point of view.     

Predicting Parent-Child Aggression Risk in Mothers and Fathers: Role of Emotion Regulation and Frustration Tolerance

Efforts to identify targets that could be instrumental for child abuse prevention programs have often implicated stress as a key risk factor. However, existing research has not adequately considered the role of emotion dysregulation and frustration intolerance in predicting parents’ risk to engage in parent-child aggression (PCA). In addition, research in this field continues to focus heavily on mothers, with limited attention to fathers. Thus, the current study investigated whether perceived stress and distress, emotion dysregulation, and frustration intolerance independently predicted risk of PCA in a sample of 81 couples; moreover, the study evaluated whether emotion regulation or frustration tolerance mediated or moderated the association between stress and PCA risk. Findings indicated that each of the risk factors uniquely predicted PCA risk after controlling for demographic factors; neither emotion dysregulation nor frustration intolerance moderated the association between stress and PCA risk but emotion regulation did partially mediate this association. No significant differences in the pattern of these relationships were observed between mothers and fathers. Future research directions are discussed, including methodological considerations as well as evaluating how emotion regulation skills training and improved parental frustration tolerance may prevent parent-child aggression.     

To be or not to be (ethnic): Public vs. private expressions of ethnic identification differentially impact national inclusion of White and non-White groups

Many pluralistic nations are witnessing vigorous debate about multiculturalism. In the U.S., Americans generally embrace principles of ethnic diversity but dislike minorities who express strong ethnic identification. Two experiments examined this seeming contradiction by differentiating between ethnic identity expressed in private vs. public by non-White and White individuals. Then we tested whether individuals' identity expressions differentially affected perceivers' construal of their entire ethnic group as legitimately American. Results indicated that at a conscious level, White and non-White ethnic groups were held to the same standard and construed as significantly less American when members expressed their ethnic identity publicly vs. privately. However, at an unconscious level, a double standard emerged: non-White ethnic groups were implicitly rejected as less American if members expressed ethnic identity publicly, while White ethnics were implicitly accepted as legitimate Americans regardless of where they expressed ethnic identity.     

Meta-analytic Decisions and Reliability: A Serendipitous Case of Three Independent Telecommuting Meta-analyses

Purpose  

Despite the potential for researcher decisions to negatively impact the reliability of meta-analysis, very few methodological studies have examined this possibility. The present study compared three independent and concurrent telecommuting meta-analyses in order to determine how researcher decisions affected the process and findings of these studies.     

Predicting ADHD Symptoms in Adolescence from Early Childhood Temperament Traits

Extreme levels of certain temperament traits can be early markers of different developmental pathways of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the long-term utility of using these traits as predictors of ADHD is not fully known. This study includes 64 male adolescents (M age = 13.5), who have been followed since birth as part of a longitudinal study. The primary aim was to test effortful control (EC), activity level, and anger, measured in early childhood – both with mother’s reports and laboratory assessments –as predictors of ADHD symptoms in adolescence. Further, we investigated the specificity of this prediction to the different ADHD symptom domains. The results demonstrated that early temperament dimensions of EC and activity level were predictive of ADHD symptoms about 10 years later, when the participants reached adolescence. Moreover, activity level showed specificity only to hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms whereas EC was a predictor of the two symptom domains. Anger had a predictive correlation with ADHD symptoms; however, it did not have a unique predictive contribution. These results emphasize the relevance of EC and activity level in the developmental course of ADHD. Identification of early risk factors can lead to more efficient design and implementation of intervention programs.     

The Power of Powerlessness

Philosophers should forget what they think they know about divine assistance, power, control, up‐to‐usness, freedom‐from and free will, when it comes to alcoholism, given what Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) says. Alcoholics will never be free of their alcoholism; although it is up to them to acknowledge their powerlessness over alcohol, often that is not possible until they hit bottom, and even then they might not acquire the power of powerlessness without help from a Higher Power. After explaining and defending these insights of AA, the unwarranted assumptions behind how philosophers (and others) criticise them are identified.